Finding Precious Moments in the Laundry

The other day, I asked my wife what a good idea for a column would be. She immediately said, “you should write about the stuff I find in the washing machine and when doing laundry.”

I know an interesting topic when I hear one, so I was instantly intrigued.

I asked what sort of stuff she was finding and she pointed to a small pile of items next to some folded laundry. On this particular day the take was: one neat looking stone, a piece of a toy, something that looked like pizza, a coin, bread crust, and a piece of lasagna.

As I surveyed her findings I was reminded of going trawling as a kid while growing up in Louisiana. After you throw the nets in the water and drag them around behind the boat, you pull them back on board and get to go through your haul looking for cool stuff.

In the case of trawling, that was crabs, shrimp, and weird looking sea creatures. In the case of doing laundry, it was the neat looking stone. This may seem a bit silly, but I think there’s something to it.

I once overheard a mom talking about missing the days of doing her kids’ laundry. Her kids were grown and out of the house now but she looked back fondly on going through her boys’ pockets before loading their clothes into the wash.

She said she loved getting to see what precious little items they had collected and put in their pockets for safekeeping. I’m sure the little items were often little more than trash, but I can see how a survey of these items would provide a glimpse into the mind of the child. And maybe even one day leave a surprising wistfulness for doing kids’ laundry.

On this particular day, I wasn’t too taken with any of the items found in the load of laundry my wife was folding. Although the broader discovery that my kids pocket a good bit of food throughout the day was amusing.

In the present, of course, it’s easy to look past these finds as nothing more than an inconvenience (and possibly a harsh commentary on your cooking). But like with so much of parenting, the precious moments are hiding in the mundane. Would that we didn’t need the benefit of hindsight to see them. Or laundry.